Oct 6 2008
Physicists at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Centre for Quantum Technology are all set to install a quantum communication security solutionover the eThekwini Municipality fibre-optic network infrastructure propelling the City of Durban to become the world's first Quantum City. Based on the eThekwini SmartCity initiative, the QuantumCity project aims to provide the City with the capabilities to offer quantum security solutions to users of their recently installed fibre-optic network. The quantum network will officially be showcased at the SmartCity Conference and Expo to be held at the Albert Luthuli ICC in Durban between 1-2 October 2008.
Durban is the SmartCity of Africa with a complete fibre-optic network able to share its broadband access withpublic and private sectors. However the global drive towards communication security has prompted it to leap into the Quantum regime. Professor Francesco Petruccione, the head of the research group, says, "The QuantumCity project facilitates theroll out of quantum communication security solutions to other clients of the eThekwini Municipal network creating the first Quantum City in the World". The security of quantum cryptography is based on the physical principles of quantum mechanics, rather than on the algorithmic procedures of classical cryptography.
The QuantumCity project is led by the Centre for Quantum Technology and the Innovation Company of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in partnership with idQuantique and Senetas Corporation, leading companies in quantum and classical encryption. The project is funded by the eThekwini Municipality and the Innovation Fund (an instrument of the National Research Foundation). City Manager, Dr Michael Sutcliffe, believes that quantum information and communication technology will not only boost the transformation of the Municipality into a high-tech information-driven organization, but also turn Durban into an incubator for future technologies.The quantum network consists of four nodes in a Municipal Area Network star configurationlinking municipal buildings in Pinetown, Westville and Cato Manor.
The Centre for Quantum Technology is a Research Group of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa.
http://quantum.ukzn.ac.za/quantum-city